Air conditioning system



June 14, 1938. K. P. BRACE ET AL 2,120,883

AIR CONDI TI-ONING S YSTEM Filed Jan. 21, 1935' 3 Shets-Sh eet 1 Z KemperPBrace Roberta @r-awfird Smaentord By K I I after neg June 14', 1938. K. P. BRACE ET AL 2,120,883

I AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 21, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Z7 Kem erFBrabe fiaberrcr w qrd nnen OM Gttbmeg u same parts throughout.

. Patented June 14, 1938 AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM Kempcr P. Brace and RohertB. P. Crawford, Washington, D. C.

Application January 21, 1935, Serial No. 2,826

8 Claims. (01. 98-33) This invention deals with the art of air conditioning. Its primary object is to provide a simple, inexpensive and emcient method of maintaining positive individual temperature and humidity regulation in the various rooms of buildings such as hotels, apartment buildings. and oflice buildings wherein the rooms on each floor open into or are located adjacent a common corridor or passageway.

Heretofore attempts have been made to effect the above results in several different ways, one of these being to run individual conditioned air supply and returnducts to each room, the outlets of which ducts are thermostatically adjustable to supply the proper amount of air .to

maintain the desired condition in each room. In addition to its high installation cost, this system has the disadvantage of instability of regulation because the operation of each thermostatically- 20 controlled damper has a'pronounced effect upon the air flow from every other dampered outlet. Furthermore the opening of windows in any one room interferes with the adjustment of the entire system.

in each room; There are many modifications of this so called unit system; In some cases all 30 the functions of cooling, heating, humidifying,

dehumidifying, filtering and circulation of air are performed within the individual units. In other instances, the units are used merely to heat or cool andcirculate the air, the remaining func- 35 tions'being accomplished by a central system which supplies a relatively small amount of air having the proper moisture content to the corridors of each room, this air being allowed to diffuse into the individual rooms for proper humidity 40 control.

Although the operation of the unit type of system isnot entirely unsatisfactory, the installation cost is extremely high due to the high cost of units, electric wiring, water, refrigerant and drain I P p g, pipe covering, etc.

The proposed new system forming the subject matter of this application provides the advantageous operating characteristics of the unit system at an extremely low first cost.

50 w Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the description which follows.

Referring to the accompanying drawings which .are made a part hereof and on which the same describe the reference characters are used to To :obviate the above disadvantages, systems have been designed which provide for an indi- Figure 1 is a view in elevation with parts in section showing my invention,

Figure 2 is a section on line 2--2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section substantially on line 3-3 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail showing control and air return shafts 18 extend from the basement of the building to the topmost corridor. In each corridor and nearthe ceiling are positioned air supply ducts l9 to conduct the air from the shafts l1 into the corridors at a relatively high velocity and in such a. manner that thorough mixing of the supplied air and the air already in the corridor is accomplished almost instantaneously. Airsupplied to the shafts I1 is drawn through an air treating unit 20 by a fan 2 I. This treating unit may be a humidifying and heating system for winter use and a dehumidifying and cooling unit in summer.

, For cooling and dehumidifying the air, the unit 20 may be any suitable mechanical refrigerator to cool and dehumidify a relativelysmall quantity of air and supply the same tothe corridors at a relatively low temperature through the high, velocity ducts l9 to effect rapid mixing. The cooling in the unit 20 may be effected by coldwater sprays, by direct expansion or by cold water passing through radiators having finned coils.' Instead of cooling a small quantity'of air to a low temperature the mechanicalrefrigerator may be arranged to cool and dehumidify a relatively .large amount of air and supply it to the corridors at a relatively high temperature at low velocity. This system requires an interchange of heat between the hot air entering the central cooling system 20 and the cold air leaving the system for raising the temperature of the entering air. The cooling in'this' case may also be by cold water sprays, by direct expansion or by cold water circulating through finned coils. Refrigeration in the unit 20 may also be by adiabatic chemical dehumidification followed by recooli'ng with suitable cooling means, such, "for example, as artesian well water or mechanical refrigeration; v I

cally controlled dampers it is possible to maintain the corridors at any predetermined temperature under varying load conditions. For economy of operation air is returned through openings 24 from the corridors to-the return air shafts l8 through which it returns to the conditioning system 20.

. Located in openings 25 in the partitions ll between the rooms I! and the corridors i 3 are fan units 26. The purpose of these fans of course is to draw air fromthe corridors and supply it to the rooms as needed to maintain the rooms at the proper temperature condition. The fans are onerated by motors 3| controlled by thermostats 21 located in the rooms into which the fans are delivering the air. The doors of the rooms are provided with grills 28 or other openings near the floor to allow the air to return to the corridors.

The operation of the system is as follows:

All of the corridors are maintained at a constant humidity and temperature condition. This may be at a higher or lower temperature than that desired in the rooms depending on-whether the roomsare to be heated or cooled. During the summer months when the building is to be cooled, the corridors are maintained automaticallyat a temperature about five degrees cooler than the temperature desired in the rooms. In

summer it will be desirable to keep the temperature in the rooms about 85F. The temperature in the corridors will be kept at about 80 F., the thermostats 21 and 23 being set to keep the rooms and the corridors at the respective desired temperatures. If the temperature in the rooms rises above a predetermined degree the fans are set in operation. Since each fan unit is equipped with its own controlling thermostat different temperatures may be maintained in the different rooms, by a simple setting of the thermostat. Since each fan runs at a constant speed itwill deliver a. constant volume of air. Upon opening a window in any room, there will be no interference with other rooms and no material disturbance with air conditions in the corridors.

During the winter months the corridors will be maintained at about 84 to maintain a temperature of about 75 F. in the rooms.-

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit thereof, we therefore do not limit ourselves to the specific showing and description but only to the invention as set forth in the claims.

What we claim therefore is:

1. In a building having a corridor and a--plu-, rality of rooms opening into said corridor, an air shaft, an air conditioning system for supplying air having a predetermined temperature and humidity to said shaft, thermostatically. controlled means for supplying air at high velocity to said corridor from said shaft, separate means for supplying air from said corridor to said rooms and heat responsive means in each of said rooms in control of each of said air supplying means.

2. In a building having a. plurality of rooms and a corridor connected with said rooms, an air conditioning system, an air shaft having a restricted opening into the corridor for supplying air at high velocity from said system to said corridor, means responsive to air conditions in said corridor for controlling the volume of air supplied to said corridor, means for supplying air from said corridor to said rooms and means responsive to air conditions in said rooms for controlling the supplying of air to said rooms.

3. In a building having a plurality of rooms and corridors, air passages connecting said rooms with said corridors, meansin said passages for forcibly supplying air from said corridors to said rooms, individual heat responsive means in each of said rooms for controlling the volume of air supplied to each room, an air shaft means for conditioning and supplying conditioned air to said air shaft, said air shaft being connected thru restricted-openings with said corridors thru which air is supplied at high velocity from said shaft to said corridors and heat responsive means for controlling the volume of conditioned air supplied from said shaft to said corridors.

4. In a building having a plurality of roomson each floor and a common corridor on each floor having passages connectingit with each room said passages including an air supplying and an air return passage, means in said air supplying passage for forcibly delivering air at a constant and a corridor common to said rooms, a grill adjacent the top of each room and opening into the corridor for supplying air from the corridor to the room, an opening adjacent the bottom of each room for returning air from the room to the corridor, fans in said upper openings for forcibly supplying air from said corridors 'to'said rooms, heat responsive means in said rooms in control of said fans, a central air conditioning system, an air duct for supplying air from said system to said corridors, a plurality of dampers for controlling the volume of conditioned air delivered from said duct to said corridors, heat responsive means in said corridors for controlling said dampers, a duct for returning air from said corridors to said system.

6. The method of cooling a building having a plurality of corridors and a plurality of rooms communicating with each corridor which comprises agitating the air in each corridor and maintaining it at a predetermined temperature lower than that desired in the rooms, forcibly delivering air from said corridors to said rooms and controlling the volume of air so delivered in response to the dry bulb temperature in said rooms.

'7. An air conditioning system for a building having a plurality of rooms at diiferent'levels a corridor connecting all of the rooms on one level an air conditioning unit having means for maintaining air at a predetermined temperature and humidity, vertical air shafts for conducting air to and from said air conditioning unit and said corridor, restricted-openings from one of said shafts for conducting conditioned air at a relatively high velocity from said shaft into said corridors to mix the incoming air with that in the corridors, and a plurality of rooms having assumes openings for admitting air from said corridors into the rooms.

8. An air conditioning system comprising a corridor having openings for supplying conditioned air to and for withdrawing air from rooms to be conditioned, an air supplying shaft and an air return shaft for supplying air to and for withdrawing air from said corridor, an air conditioning unit thru which air is caused to pass 10 from the return to the air supplying shaft, a

restricted opening from said air supplying shaft to said corridor for adding velocity to the air as it enters the said corridor to agitate the air therein and thereby mix the incoming air with the air already in the corridor and thermostatic means responsive to the temperature in the corridor for controlling the said restriction.

KEMPER P. BRACE. ROBERT E. P. CRAWFORD. 

